New Agreement to Distribute Group Funds
Summary of New Agreement to Distribute PacifiCare/UnitedHealth Group Funds Per 2005 Merger Undertakings
MINNEAPOLIS July 12, 2007 - The Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), the California Department of Insurance (CDI) and UnitedHealth Group/PacifiCare (UHG) have signed an agreement to distribute $25 million over the next 36 months, through a formal “Request for Proposals”(RFP) process.
Proposals will be solicited to address the following purposes:
- Technology improvements for safety net providers;
- Medical education programs in traditionally underserved communities in California;
- Population-based preventive health strategies;
- Health care information technology initiatives designed to improve health care delivery;
- Support for Coordinated Care Initiatives (The "Coordinated Care Initiatives" are research and informational activities designed to improve and promote understanding of issues related to health care delivery within the coordinated care model in California); and
- Cash or in-kind contributions to help establish and support health care information technology initiatives designed to improve health care delivery
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The first grants are expected to be awarded on or before September 30, 2007, with additional grants to be awarded by February 28, 2008, September 30, 2008, and February 28, 2009. The description of the program and RFP instructions will soon be available on the Web sites of the DMHC (www.dmhc.ca.gov), (www.insurance.ca.gov), and UnitedHealth Group (www.unitedhealthgroup.com).
The agreement among the DMHC, CDI, and Pacificare/United also specifies that, if California’s application to the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Rural Health Care Pilot Program is accepted, another $5 million of the charitable commitment will be available to support grants to rural clinics or hospitals for telemedical equipment, training, and technical support. The FCC pilot is designed to encourage health care providers to work together to develop strategies for creating statewide and/or regional networks that will connect rural health care providers to others in the state through a dedicated broadband network.
As a condition of approval for the merger of PacifiCare with UnitedHealthcare, the DMHC and the CDI secured commitments from UHG that it would continue to support California’s coordinated health care network, and would make $50 million in charitable commitments to benefit California health care consumers, and $200 million in investment commitments to support California’s health care infrastructure, particularly in rural and underserved areas.
